ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Ordnance Survey National Grid

The Ordnance Survey National Grid is like a giant map of the whole of the UK that helps people find things and places really easily.

Think of it like a big piece of graph paper that covers the whole country. Instead of just using letters and numbers like A1, B3 or E5, it has special little squares called 'grid squares'. These squares have their own special name, like TQ or SK, and they help people pinpoint locations across the UK.

This grid helps people to know exactly where something is, and helps them to give clear directions to somebody else. For example, if you're going on a trip with your family and your parents are using a sat-nav, it uses the Ordnance Survey National Grid so that they can navigate on even the smallest roads.

It's really important because it helps people to find their way without getting lost, and helps emergency services like firefighters and police to get to the right place really quickly. So, without the Ordnance Survey National Grid, it would be a lot harder to find our way around the country!